On XP-home SP2
I do get those errors but not always. I had a lot of them last fall when I had bad RAM.Recently all passes were without errors.
One of the articles indicates it applies to XP as well.On my XP ZA runs, but not at reboot when the scan runs.I think the only way to experiment there is to totally remove ZA. Totally clean up the computer (remaining files, CCleaner, all cache items),
GUI chkdsk
again, defrag and then GUI chkdsk once more. Kinda laborious. Can you think of an easier way?
I have nowhere near the limit of files they speak of.

I have no idea whether one should apply any such patch. I never can get that clear due to their confusing links and confusing dating. Considering they continue updating the kb article, and considering that W2K SP4 and XP SP2 have been around for a while I have no idea what to think. Patching would be last resort for me.
Few theories if you still want to follow it
1. Your initial thought about cleaning/not cleaning the cache daily
2. Shut off the indexing service (search command will be slower, everything else will be faster). But now that I think of it, two months ago I've shut off my indexing service on XP. It is also off on W2K of which I posted the log. So no ZA, no indexing, still errors. Hmmmmm
3. Perhaps more clues herehttp://support.microsoft.com/kb/327009http://support.microsoft.com/kb/873437http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315688
enjoy!
4. Do you set file permissions by hand (not automatic inheritance)? They might not be deleting the manual entry in some db and then cleanup after themselves???
That reminds me of something. Their examples include index numbers (as if I knew what they are!!). The log I posted earlier had no such numbers. When my RAM on XP was bad, I saw those index numbers as as well. I wish Bill Gates would tell us what they are

This is just a follow up to our conversation about the chkdsk.exe bugs we saw on Microsoft's knowledge base articles.

I had raised the question as to whether Windows XP SP2 included a fixed chkdsk.exe,
or whether it was necessary to download and install hotfixes to fix the chkdsk.exe

You had found issues on the knowledge base regarding chkdsk's incorrect handling of security descriptors
for NTFS volumes containing a large # of files, and also &quot;Cannot Open Volume for Direct Access Error Message When Chkdsk Runs at Startup&quot;.

The good news is that I verified that Windows XP SP2 already includes the fixed chkdsk.exe.

See the list of fixes included in Microsoft Windows XP SP2 from the link below, and search on that page for chkdsk.